


Danger Zone

by SapphoIsBurning



Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Medical Device, Sleep Deprivation, negative ghost rider the pattern is full
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-02
Updated: 2016-09-02
Packaged: 2018-08-12 16:06:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7940746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SapphoIsBurning/pseuds/SapphoIsBurning
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Something's causing Sami's sleep deprivation, and Dean's going to get to the bottom of it, even if he has to get it on the red line overload.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Danger Zone

**Author's Note:**

> Found half of this in my drafts and finished it this week. Set during the period pre-MITB 2016 where they were tagging together, aka, my happy place.

“I can’t,” Sami muttered. “Gotta get the cats. Pizza cats.” His head lolled against the headrest of the passenger’s seat.

Dean made active listening noises and kept driving. Sami was getting more and more like this lately. He would just nod off in the middle of something, just for a sec. It made Dean a little nervous to let him drive, and even more nervous about working together. The man was sleep deprived, for sure, but why? For now, he just let him sleep it off in the car, even when he started snoring. Dean just turned up the music—maybe Willie Nelson would help his new tag team friend sleep off whatever was bothering him.

But napping in the car or the locker room didn’t seem to help things. Sami was always tired. He got bigger and more purple bags under his eyes. Dean wasn’t good at broaching things tactfully so he just asked: “What’s up with you lately, man?”

“Nothing.” Sami turned away and laced up his boots.

“Can I help? You getting enough sleep? I sing a good lullaby. I’ll tuck you in. Just ask.”

“You can’t fix me Dean,” Sami said angrily when asked about it.

“No, but I can bug the shit out of you until you get your head checked. Something’s fucking wrong.”

“It’s not my head.” Then he walked off.

“Have you tried melatonin!” Dean called after him. “Or booze?” Sami didn’t turn around.

***

They were sharing a hotel room, finally, and Dean saw an extra bag Sami tried to stash behind all the rest of his stuff.

“What’s that?” Dean asked.

“Nothing.” Sami huffed and kicked the bag. It made a thunking sound.

Dean walked over and picked it up, opening the zipper. It was some kind of medical device. “Seriously, what the hell is this thing,” he asked.

“CPAP machine.”

“Like for breathing?” Dean said. “Dude. You got that sleep apnea shit, that makes so much sense.” He put the machine on Sami’s bed, the one closer to the door. “How does it work?”

“Ugh, it blows air into my mouth and nose so I can’t ever be happy again.”

Dean frowned. “That’s fucked up.”

Sami sighed. “It’s really stupid, and it makes a lot of noise, and I’m embarrassed to fly with it, and I can’t fall asleep with it on, and I hate it.” He sat down next to the bag on the bed and pulled out some pieces, a compressor and a plastic face mask with straps. “Wanna see?”

Dean nodded.

Sami pulled it on over his face and grimaced.

Dean’s eyes widened. “Dude. You get to sleep in a Top Gun mask. That’s awesome.”

Sami pressed his lips together in a frown, visible through the clear plastic of the mask. “There are ones that go up your nose but I’m a mouth breather so I can’t use them.”

“Seriously, Sami. Danger zone.”

At that, Sami cracked a smile. “I don’t like using it when I’m travelling...I don’t want to keep people up. I feel like a jet engine.”

“It can’t be that bad, for one, and for two I can sleep through anything. I could sleep through Seth Rollins’s crossfit farts. I can handle your machine.”

Sami still looked skeptical.

“Zayn, your ego’s writing checks your body can’t cash. You need some sleep. Come on.”

They looked at each other and then cracked up.

When they were about to tuck into bed, Sami turned the thing on, and it whirred to life. Barely.

“Sami, I don’t hear anything.”

“Really?” Sami sounded a little muffled through the mouthpiece of the device.

“Negative, Ghost Rider, the pattern is full,” Sami said, though he did sound sleepy.

“Seriously, Zayn, you gotta rest. Is there anything I can do? Other than call you Maverick?”

“Mmph. C’mere,” Sami said.

Dean wasn’t even in bed yet but had at least brushed his teeth, so he came over and sat down on the edge of Sami’s bed.

Sami sighed. “I can’t even cuddle properly with this thing on. It’s real appealing to anyone who might sleep over.”

“Well, I’m sleeping over, and I’m just going to pretend you’re Bane.”

“Now is not the time for cuddling, doctor. That comes later.” Sami’s laugh was muffled by the mask but charming nonetheless. Dean kicked off his sneakers and, feeling bold, crawled into bed next to him, on the opposite side from where the CPAP machine was sitting on the bedside table. He crawled under the covers, his worn undershirt rucking up from the friction, and was now shoulder to shoulder with his friend.

“How’s this?” he asked, his voice raspy from a long tour and surely nothing else.

“Closer,” Sami said, rolling to face away from Dean.

Dean swallowed hard and scooted closer, close enough he could smell Sami’s shampoo and the plastic of the machine tubing, and he reached his right arm around Sami’s body. He buried his face in the back of Sami’s neck, thrilled and afraid. “How about now?”

“Perfect,” Sami said, settling in amidst the deep pile of pillows and the fluffy comforter.

Between Sami finally getting enough air and Dean having someone to keep him warm, they slept better than ever that night, and Dean was beset by dreams with a lot of action and not much talk that he remembered as he drifted awake.

Sunlight was streaming through a crack in the blackout curtains. He could hear the faint mechanical whine of Sami’s machine, and...oh, he was hard. Dean shut his eyes again and cursed his dick. His body was pressed against Sami’s and their arms and legs had become tangled together in the night. If only he could extract himself without Sami noticing…

And then Sami stirred, flailed, pulled the mask off of his face, shouting wordlessly.

“Sami, it’s okay, it’s me, Dean,” Dean said, helping his friend get the mask off.

Sami caught his breath. “I had a dream about facehuggers.”

“It’s okay, they mostly come out at night. Mostly,” Dean said, laughing a little.

Then Sami laughed, closed his eyes, flopped back on the bed. He flung the mask and tubing away and covered his face with his hands. “I’m so embarrassing. You didn’t have to do any of that for me.”

Dean pulled his hands away and held them. “Well I didn’t  _ have _ to.” He noticed Sami was wearing dinosaur pajamas. 31 years old and he found dinosaur pajamas and wore them in front of another person, in front of Dean. He trusted Dean enough to show him his Darth Vader machine and wear dinosaur pajamas.

“Dammit,” Dean said. “Those fucking dinosaurs. Sami, I don’t know how to say this.”

Sami sat up. They were still holding hands. They looked into each other’s eyes.

Sami opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. They both laughed, and the laughing deepened and they leaned into each other, foreheads touching, and from there it was only inches more for their noses to brush, hesitantly, before they fell into a soft, hesitant kiss. Their mouths were closed, their lips pressing warmly together.

It was nice to finally be able to breathe.


End file.
